Santa Rosa: the city

We finally got out of La Unión for a weekend! We had many reasons to go: to get our debit cards, to withdraw money from the bank, to stock up on groceries, to buy a few necessities we were missing, to fill our bellies with delicious meals, to see a bit of Honduras, and to simply get away for a nice weekend. All of our wildest dreams were fulfilled with this trip. ‘Content’ is the perfect way I can describe how we all felt while there.

Our trip began Saturday morning. We were lucky to have a guy drive us to Gracias in his pick-up truck, so all of us gringos piled into the bed of the trunk and we were on our way. It was an interesting journey because, well let’s face it, none of us had ever spent that long in the bed of a truck nonetheless on the poorest of dirt roads. We got the usual overwhelming amount of stares from people we passed in the villages along the way. I have to imagine that in areas as remote as those, they really don’t see many white people let alone a whole group of them at once. We even passed a truck filled with men who could not stop laughing us and turned it into a race to catch up and pass us. The ride itself was beautiful. We left early enough in the morning that the clouds were still low and rising out of the valleys. We were constantly looking at our surroundings in awe; and yet we noticed after taking so many pictures, that each picture was the same. The countryside is just so beautiful here. Even with all the stunning sights, do you know what the best part of the ride was? Getting to the paved roads. Those are heavenly. We saw many interesting sights along the way: a woman carrying a chicken in a plastic bag while riding a motorcycle, a loose herd of cattle just moseying down the highway, horses crossing the highway without an owner, and trenches that made the road unfit for any vehicle to drive through. 

Once the truck dropped us off in Gracias, we had to wait on the side of the road for a bus to come by and take us to Santa Rosa. When we got on the bus we ran into some of the teachers from Gracias! We knew they were going, and we were going to meet them there, but it was fun to see them on the bus and catch up. Once we rolled into Santa Rosa and got off the bus, it was a sensory overload to say the least. After living in our quiet little town of La Unión for three weeks, everything seemed that much bigger and louder. There were tall buildings (more than one story!), lots of cars and people in the streets, a dj playing loud music on a stage across the street from the bus depot, and men surrounding us when we got off the bus asking where we were going and grabbing our arms in hopes of getting our business for their buses or taxis. At one point I just closed my eyes and squealed because I couldn’t handle all of them!

We dropped our things off at our hotel first. We stayed in Hotel Santa Rosa which was rather nice. 5 of us girls shared a room that had double beds for each of us, air conditioning, and a hot shower that had excellent pressure. We each paid $12 each to stay in this ‘luxury’ hotel that also had fast internet and free water for us. From there we had to get into town to make it to the bank by 11:30, before it closed, to get our debit cards. By the grace of God someone was able to track down our debit cards to Santa Rosa and ask that they stay there so we could pick them up – but this was our only chance to get them, otherwise we would have to make a different trip Gracias on another weekend to get them. 

Little did we know that it was Santa Rosa day… the streets were pure chaos. There was a giant parade, fireworks and vendors everywhere, and people lined the streets so tightly that there wasn’t space for the even the smallest or skinniest person to squeeze in. We quickly realized that we were on one side of the parade but desperately needed to get to the other, where the bank was. Thankfully Jake is as tall as he is so he led the brigades as we wove our way through the hot, loud, and staring crowds. We pushed our way to the front and became part of the parade for a brief 5 seconds. (I looked over to see a caravan of military men passing through the parade with ferocious war paint on their faces and red smoke coming from their car as we crossed.) We made it to the bank just in time. And, as promised, our cards were all there and we were able to finally get some money out of our bank accounts!




After that we made our way to a pizzeria to meet up with the Gracias teachers for lunch. Let me just tell you, that was the best pizza I have ever eaten. Blame it on how hungry we were, how badly we had been craving pizza, or whatever else you can come up with, but that was darn good pizza. It was torture sitting in the restaurant and smelling it while waiting for it cook. Once we got our hands on that pizza, we devoured it and not a single slice was left behind. Anonymously we decided that we ate too much, but it was entirely worth it. Then we walked to a teacher’s supplies store. Granted, it’s not quite the supplies store you would find in the States, but it was still a fantastic stop. Everyone bought something for their classrooms – maps, notebooks, paper clips, pens, learning tools, etc. I personally bought enough folders for each one of my students to have as a ‘Friday folder’ and then 5 more for myself to organize all my papers in, and I got a multiplication poster to help my students with their times tables. They were simple purchases, but I reaped the rewards instantly when school started back up on Monday. 

After that we went to a store similar to a K-Mart. A few of the teachers needed general household items and personal items. So we found another glorious store to shop in. I stumbled across things that I thought I wouldn’t be able to find down here or buy until I returned to the States. Again, they were simple but have made all the difference: a nail file, nail polish remover, a pumice stone, hair products, and soap for my classroom. (By this time, Jake and Lenny were thoroughly bored of shopping with us and doing their best to be patient with us excited females.) Then we went on to another treat: Kaldi’s coffee shop. It’s one of Jake’s favorite coffee shops in Santa Rosa and I don’t blame him. Cassidy and I decided to each buy a drink and then share them; so collectively we had a peach and mango smoothie, and a vanilla/almond-ice cream-with-two-espresso-shots float. Ooof. Even just thinking about those drinks brings a smile to my face! Pure heaven in a glass. We had to pace ourselves so that we wouldn’t suck down all that liquid joy too quickly. Everyone’s drinks were equally delectable.

From there we returned to the hotel for only a brief moment to drop off our bags, and then we headed to the grocery store. This was another chaotic experience. It was that particular grocery’s store 5^th anniversary which naturally calls for a celebration of all celebrations. I am not exaggerating when I say the grocery store was worse than any store the day before Christmas. The palce was packed with people down every aisle, there was a dj to play music and give away prizes, there were promotions out the wazoo, and they were even giving away alcohol samples so you could have gotten drunk off the free mini-shots they were handing out. (Would it surprise you if I told you that even the children were getting to sample this alcohol?) It was crazy, and once again I did not appreciate the crowds. I would have liked to buy everything I wanted there and take it back with me, but not only was my bag not big enough, I also did not have a cooler to take refrigerated things with me. So I settled for these dietary necessities: Oreos, Cheerios, macaroni and cheese, other pastas, orange and yellow peppers, granola, wine, peanut butter, cookie mix, plantain chips, and tuna. I have considered everything to be a wise purchase so far! 

We had to go back to the hotel after that trip too so we could once again drop off our bags. If you saw all the bags that we accumulated, you would have thought we were stocking up for the apocalypse. For dinner we ventured off to a restaurant called Zots which was recommended in our guide books and described as something similar to T.G.I.Friday’s, and Lord knows American food sounded amazing to us. Lori and I decided to each order something and then split our plates, so we had a burger, shrimp, and chicken with fries for our meal. (We take surf n’ turf seriously!) It wasn’t anything spectacular – I think it was a mediocre attempt at American cuisine. We did order a national beer, Port Royal, which was rather tasty! Then we decided to be a little crazy and not go to bed at 9pm so we put on our party pants and went to a local bar: El Rodeo. It was a neat place! They had a live band playing and people were dancing all over the place. We just sat and watched with our jaws dropped because we were amazed and all the Latin hips taking control of the dance floor. The sad part was that it took an hour for all our drinks to make it to the table, so by the time the last person finally got their drink, everyone else was tired and just wanted to go back. (So much for our wild night on the town.) That was a disappointing stop in our night.